Brooklyn Half Marathon - Grand Prix

Despite the freezing temperatures on a Saturday Morning for the Brooklyn Half Marathon Grand Prix, I still managed to keep my running hopes up on beating my previous Half Marathon PR (1:38:46).

At the start of the race, I was really nervous because the path on the boardwalk was uneven. Also the cold weather in addition to the blistering wind and the fact that the course was uncharted territory didn't calm me either. Then with Morrissey's "Ringleader of the Tormentors" blasting off on my ipod, off we headed to the first mile! Gingerly running on the unsteady wooden path, I clocked exactly 8:00/min on my first mile and on the second turn, I saw my teammate, Alex aka "the Claw" around the loop. I paced behind Alex but never shifted gears to pass him until mile 4 (Exactly 30:00/min) on Ocean Parkway.

Running on Ocean Parkway brought back fond memories as I grew up in Flatbush from '85-'90. I remembered the avenues running alphabetically and the huge hasidic community. Anyway, I followed Alex around 4.5 miles, sped up a notch and paced with an unidentified NY Harrier. Upon mile 6, I knew I was in good shape to beat my PR as I clocked at 44:47/min and all I had to do is to run a steady pace and ensure I have enough reserves for an upcoming hill (if there is one!). Between mile 7-9, it was a straight route as we headed under the BQE and towards Prospect Park.

As I entered in Prospect park on mile 9-10, I had a premonition of an upcoming hill. And what do you know, mile 10, it was the longest hill I have ran.....or at least that's how it felt. I was struggling on that hill as my left ankle started to strain and was not picking up my legs. Granted, I was going to slow down due to the pain but I chose to mentally block it out and pushed forward. As my role model Dean Karnazes always said "Run with your heart" that's basically what I did. The fact that there will be a descend after an uphill gave me a little boost of energy and confidence that the best is yet to come.

Upon reaching mile 13, it was exactly 1:36:02. When I saw that time, I knew I was going to break my previous PR (1:38:46). Inches before the finish land, I lifted my right fist in moments of hope and thanking god that I made it.

My final net time was 1:35:59 with a 7:19/mile pace, ranked 558 out of 4000 and placed first on my team. Overall, I was extremely happy with my result. For the next half marathon (Queens), I am not going to expect myself to beat this PR as I will be in Europe for 2 weeks in April. With that in mind, I would expect my fitness to go down a bit so I shouldn't be too hard on myself, although another PR or under 1:38:00 time will be fine by me.

Aloha and Cheers,

Moz